Max Weber’s Methodology

“Max Weber’s methodology has traditionally been claimed by two camps: one that wants to steer the social sciences in the interpretive or hermeneutic direction and one that favors a more objectivist or positivistic social science. Fritz Ringer’s book presents a clear and well-written summary of Weber’s methodological position, but it is also a plea to scholars to overcome these differences. Ringer argues that, in the end, all the social sciences need to engage in causal explanation and that Weber’s ideas are still relevant to the project of a causal, objective, and scientific social science… This book is now arguably the most reliable and readable exposition in English of Weber’s complicated methodological essays.”—Ralph Schroeder, Isis

“This is an extraordinarily illuminating work that every serious student of Weber will have to reckon with. Nothing else is remotely comparable for conceptualizing Weber’s methodological orientations. This is a truly major work for the history of the social sciences.”—Donald Fleming, Harvard University

“Max Weber’s Methodology examines, with exemplary clarity, Weber’s contributions to methodological debates vis-à-vis a vast variety of contemporary opponents. Written by a careful, mature scholar in full command of his texts, it is an excellent and original study that offers an unusually insightful and balanced presentation of Weber’s methodology.”—Stephen Kalberg, Boston University